[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 203 (Friday, October 19, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53078-53080]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-22755]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2018-0079; FXES11140400000-178-FF04EF2000]
Eastern Collier Property Owners, LLC, Multi-Species Habitat
Conservation Plan and Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Collier
County, Florida
AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, announce the
availability of our draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and a
habitat conservation plan (HCP) associated with the incidental take
permit (ITP) applications of eleven Collier County landowners under the
Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. Each
[[Page 53079]]
of the eleven landowners, collectively known as the Eastern Collier
Property Owners, LLC, requests a 50-year ITP authorizing take of the
Florida panther and 18 other Federal or State-listed species incidental
to residential and commercial development, earth mining, and low-
intensity rural-land activities in a defined portion of Collier County,
Florida.
DATES: Comments: We will accept comments received or postmarked on or
before December 3, 2018. Comments submitted electronically at http://www.regulations.gov must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on the
closing date. Any comments we receive after the closing date may not be
considered in the final decision on these actions.
ADDRESSES:
Obtain Documents: You may obtain copies of the EIS and HCP by the
following methods:
Internet: http://www.regulations.gov (search for Docket No. FWS-R4-
ES-2018-0079).
Field Office: https://www.fws.gov/verobeach/.
Submit Comments: You may submit written comments by one of the
following methods:
Internet: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for
submitting comments on Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2018-0079.
Hard Copy: Via U.S. mail or hand-delivery to Public Comments
Processing, Attn: FWS-R4-ES-2018-0079; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Headquarters, MS: BPHC; 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-
3803.
Review Public Comments: Submitted comments may be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov in Docket No. FWS-R4-ES-2018-0079.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Dell, Regional HCP
Coordinator, by mail at Attn: ECPO; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service;
1875 Century Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30345 or by telephone at 404-679-
7313, or Dr. Constance Cassler, Supervisory Fish and Wildlife
Biologist, by mail at the South Florida Ecological Services Office,
Attn: ECPO; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1339 20th Street, Vero
Beach, FL 32960 or by telephone at 772-469-4356.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
(Service), have received applications for ITPs under the Endangered
Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA; 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
Applicants
The Eastern Collier Property Owners, LLC (ECPO/Applicants) was
formed as a collaborative effort to address long-term land-use planning
and conservation issues related to the Florida panther in the east
Collier County area (see also http://www.floridapantherprotection.com).
The Applicants' collaboration culminated in the HCP, which supports
their collective application for the issuance of 50-year ITPs for take
of the Florida panther and 18 other covered species. Table 1, below,
individually lists the ECPO members and their Service-assigned
application numbers. Table 2 depicts the species covered by the HCP.
Table 1--Members of Eastern Collier Property Owners, LLC, and Their
Incidental Take Permit Application Numbers
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Applicants Permit application Nos.
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Alico Land Development, Inc............... TE05647D-0
Barron Collier Investment, Ltd............ TE04440D-0
Collier Enterprises Management, Inc....... TE04443D-0
Consolidated Citrus Limited Partnership... TE04471D-0
English Brothers Partnership.............. TE04152D-0
Half Circle L Ranch, LLP.................. TE05238D-0
Heller Bros. Packing Corp................. TE05668D-0
JB Ranch I, LLC........................... TE04473D-0
Owl Hammock Immokalee, LLC................ TE06114D-0
Pacific Land, Ltd......................... TE05665D-0
Sunniland Family Limited Partnership...... TE04472D-0
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Table 2--HCP-Covered Wildlife Species and Their Protected Status
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Status Common name Scientific name
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Listed as endangered under the ESA.... Florida panther........................................ Puma concolor coryi.
Florida bonneted bat................................... Eumops floridanus.
Red-cockaded woodpecker................................ Picoides borealis.
Everglade snail kite................................... Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus.
Listed as threatened under the ESA.... Wood stork............................................. Mycteria americana.
Northern crested caracara.............................. Caracara cheriway.
Florida scrub jay...................................... Aphelocoma coerulescens.
Eastern indigo snake................................... Drymarchon corais couperi.
Candidate Species or Species under Gopher tortoise........................................ Gopherus polyphemus.
review for Federal listing.
Eastern diamondback rattlesnake........................ Crotalus adamanteus.
Gopher frog............................................ Lithobates capito.
State-listed species.................. Big Cypress fox squirrel............................... Sciurus niger avicennia.
Everglades mink........................................ Neovison vison evergladensis.
Burrowing owl.......................................... Athene cunicularia.
Florida sandhill crane................................. Antigone canadensis pratensis.
Little blue heron...................................... Egretta caerulea.
Roseate spoonbill...................................... Platalea ajaja.
Southeastern American kestrel.......................... Falco sparverius Paulus.
Tricolored heron....................................... Egretta tricolor.
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Background
Section 9 of the ESA and its implementing regulations prohibit
``take'' of Federally-listed ``threatened'' or ``endangered'' fish and
wildlife species. However, section 10(a) of the Act provides exceptions
to the prohibition by allowing us to issue permits authorizing take of
listed species where such take is incidental to, and not the purpose
of, otherwise lawful activities and where the applicant meets certain
statutory requirements.
The Applicants' HCP proposes a programmatic approach and framework
for engaging in incidental take of the covered species while providing
for the permanent protection of portions of the covered lands via
conservation easements and generating funding for conservation
activities for the covered species in addition to those provided in the
HCP. The individual Applicants collectively own a total of 151,779
acres within the approximately 174,000-acre HCP planning area. Under
the HCP, up to 45,000 acres could be developed or
[[Page 53080]]
used for other activities. Impacts to covered species from the
activities would be mitigated through habitat management measures and
the placement of conservation easements on up to 107,000 acres of the
covered lands. The Applicants also propose to make contributions to a
conservation endowment, the Marinelli Fund, to implement conservation
measures for the covered species throughout and beyond the covered
lands.
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
We published a notice of intent to prepare an EIS for this HCP in
the Federal Register on March 25, 2016 (81 FR 16200). A public scoping
meeting was held in Naples, Florida on April 12, 2016, and an online
public participation webcast was conducted on April 19, 2016. We have
incorporated issues identified during these scoping meetings into the
draft EIS. A summary of the comments received during the scoping period
is provided in the Scoping Report appended to the draft EIS.
The draft EIS assesses the likely environmental impacts associated
with the implementation of the activities proposed in the HCP, compared
to the likely consequences of not issuing the requested ITPs, i.e.,
uncoordinated project-by-project and lot-by-lot planning and mitigation
as currently occurs. The Department of the Army, through its bureau the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, is a cooperating
agency in the development of the draft EIS.
Public Comments
If you wish to comment on the HCP, or draft EIS, you may submit
comments by any one of the methods listed above in ADDRESSES. Before
including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal
identifying information in your comment, be aware that your entire
comment--including your personal identifying information--may be made
available to the public at any time. While you may request in your
comment that we withhold your personal identifying information, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Next Steps
We will evaluate the HCP, draft EIS, and your comments to determine
whether the collective ITP application meets the permit issuance
requirements of section 10(a) of the ESA. We will also conduct an
intra-Service consultation pursuant to section 7 of the ESA. If the
requirements for permit issuance are met, we will issue individual ITPs
to the Applicants.
Authority
We provide this notice under section 10 of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531
et seq.) and ESA regulations in title 50 of the Code of Federal
Regulations and, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 42 U.S.C.
4321 et seq.) and NEPA regulations (40 CFR 1506.6).
Mike Oetker,
Acting Regional Director, Southeast Region.
[FR Doc. 2018-22755 Filed 10-18-18; 8:45 am]
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